On the approach of Mr Canter and Mr Winer

byIan BetteridgeonSeptember 9, 2007

Regardless of the in’s and outs of the issue, there’s something that makes me uncomfortable about Mr Canter and Mr Winer patting each other on the back and claiming to be “the guys who aren’t afraid to ask questions”.

When was the last time that either of them actually broke a story which exposed something that corporates didn’t want you to know? When was the last time either of them told you the skinny on an upcoming product before companies wanted you to find out about it? When was the last time either of them got sued by a company for exposing something?

Shouting at people who’re speaking at a conference from the back of the hall isn’t contributing anything. I couldn’t actually tell you if Marc got an answer, because all he talks about on his blog is about how he’s doing a better job of asking questions than journalists.

What that tells me is that Marc is more interested in using this issue for self-aggrandisement than getting answers. And that’s sad, given that I’d actually be interested in someone as smart as Marc asking some questions in a way which gets some interesting answers.